JC Ritchie carded a two-under-par 70 on Saturday to stay inside the top 10 after the third round of the Challenge Tour’s British Challenge at St Mellion Estate in Cornwall.
He made six birdies, two bogeys and a double-bogey to move to four-under-par for the tournament in a share of eighth ahead of the final round. He was six strokes behind the lead which was held by England’s Matthew Baldwin, who signed for a three-under-par 69 to move to 10-under. He led by one from Daniel Hillier of New Zealand, with Scotland’s Euan Walker in third, two shots further back on nine-under.
Ritchie made four birdies on the front nine, on the second, fifth, seventh and ninth. But he dropped two shots with his double-bogey on the sixth. He had two bogeys on the back nine, on the 12th and 15th, before he was able to pull things back with birdies on 16 and 18.
If he keeps things tight in the closing round, he will climb back inside the top 10 of the Challenge Tour rankings on the Road to Mallorca. The top 20 on those ranking after the season-ending Grand Final on November 3 will win their playing rights on the DP World Tour.
